Location: Moreing Road, Attadale, Perth
Date of Completion: 2015
A large site with river views provides a wonderful opportunity to design a new family home. And in contrast to the original home with small windows, the brief for this new house was to embrace the water and leafy environ. Designed for a professional couple with three children, the brief called for a substantial home with an emphasis on entertaining – the family origins are from Italy so the family regularly have dinners and functions for at least 12 people – hence a large dining area with a sense of occasion.
As the house was to accommodate a blended family, there was also the need for sufficient bedrooms (here there are four including the main bedroom suite) as well as sufficient bathrooms (three were included). Mountford McCarey Architects was also mindful of zoning the house – so there are two bedrooms downstairs with the other two, including the main bedroom, located upstairs. However, rather than enclose too many spaces, such as the kitchen and living areas, the architects used built-in joinery to loosely delineate rooms. The kitchen, for example, is separated from the living area by means of a built-in setting, a popular device in the 1950s. And upstairs, on the mezzanine level, is the study area.
One of the main challenges in designing the Moreing Road house was its orientation, facing the street in a north-westerly direction. Hence there was a need for sun protection from the afternoon sunlight – deep Pacific Teak fins reduce the amount of light on the glazed front façade, together with deep eaves. The form of the house, as well as the materials used, also gives this home a touch of the modernist postwar feel, with its cantilevered balcony that leads from the main bedroom along with its butterfly-shaped roof – a lantern-style pop-out ceiling also brings natural light into the core, where it’s needed. In contrast to the exterior timber cladding, the ground level, which encloses the double garage, is constructed in bands of split bricks – adding texture and depth to the design.
As with many homes found at Attadale, this one also doesn’t have a front fence, just a gentle fall towards to street. As a consequence, the concrete driveway, with its aggregate composition, leads to a low brick fence located beside the front door – a perfect place to have drinks on the terrace, enjoy the qualities of the afternoon light, but also with a degree of privacy from the street.
